Wednesday Linkstorm

As promised, today is the last ever Linkstorm. I am stepping down as the Editor-in-Chief of Barnstorm, though I'll be staying involved in an Editor Emeritus capacity. Amy Sauber will be taking over as EIC. She's a fine writer and human being, and I have every confidence that she'll make a terrific editor.

All future hate mail and job offers can be directed to erin.somers@gmail.com. Or look me up in Brooklyn, New York. You can stand in the street and throw rocks at my window, Michael Furey style, then die too young of consumption.

One last time, for nostalgia's sake, some links:

This video of David Foster Wallace's famous Kenyon graduation address, “This Is Water,” is making the rounds this week. Being a person with a pulse, I love that speech. But, man, this video. Most literal thing ever. Really low-balls the viewer's intelligence. Not even sure you should click on that, unless you need help visualizing a fish when he says fish, or a grocery store when he says grocery store. “Ohhhh. That's what a grocery store is!” Just read it instead.

Here's Allen Ginsberg's reading list for a class he taught called "Literary History of the Beats." Should this be our summer reading list? Or should we read bodice rippers on the beach instead? Dostoyevsky, or steamy stuff in Henry VIII's castle? Melville, or Victorian euphemisms for dongs? I'll leave it up to you.

Here's an essay from The Millions about The Great Gatsby: A Two-Hour Moet Commercial. Did you see it this weekend? Of course you did. Everyone did. I did. Who's cornier, Luhrmann or Fitzgerald? Race to the bottom! Related: anyone else in the mood for Moet?

All right, that's it. Thanks to the Barnstorm staff for all your hard work. And thanks, everyone, for reading. I generally try not to get too sincere in this space, but writing Linkstorm has been the greatest. Writing is not always fun for me. It is sometimes hard. It sometimes feels like “work.” But Linkstorm has always been fun, often the highlight of my week. How many opportunities do you get like that? To do something with no agenda other than loving to do it? And as a bonus, people read and appreciate it. People mention to you, at a party or in class, some joke you made that week about Jonathan Franzen or whoever. When that happens: euphoria. To write for pleasure and be read with enjoyment is a pure thing, is the best thing. And I thank you for that.